Supporting easel for display mounts



Oct. 6, 1953 v c. N. cRoss SUPPORTING EAsEL FOR DISPLAY MOUNTS Filed Deo. 27, 1948 INVENTOR arrall M @mss ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 6, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SUPPORTING EASEL FOR DISPLAY MOUNTS Carroll N. Cross, Middleboro, Mass.

Application December 27, 1948, Serial No. 67,284

1 Claim.

This invention relates to easel structures and more particularly to an easel structure including a supporting leg and a supporting leg brace or locking tongue for use in connection with display mounts.

Heretofore display mounts have been provided with easel props or supporting legs for holding said mounts in display position on surfaces such as tables, desks or counters, and these structures have usually included a latch of some type for holding the supporting leg in obliquely extended position at the rear of the mount structure. fome of the prior structures have been of such nature as to require manual manipulation and careful adjustment, and it is, therefore, the principal object of this invention to provide a device of the character described, which is very simple in its structure and which requires only a single manual movement by the user to both adjust the supporting leg in rearwardly extending mount supporting position and latch it in such adjusted position.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from a reading of the specification in light of the drawing forming a part of this application, and in which drawing:

Fig. l is a view of a section of blank stock in which the necessary incisions have been cut to form the supporting prop and its brace or locking tongue;

Fig. 2 is a rear-face perspective view showing the supporting leg in collapsed position with the brace or locking tongue extending through a slot in the leg;

Fig. 3 is a rear-face perspective view showing the relation of the supporting leg and locking brace during movement of the leg into operative position;

Fig. 4 is a rear-face perspective view similar to that shown in Fig. 5, but showing the supporting leg near its extended position; and

Fig. 5 is a rear-face perspective view showing the relation of the supporting leg and its locking tongue when the leg has been swung to its fully open or extended position.

The display mount includes a panel I and a backboard I2, the panel and backboard being substantially co-extensive xed in face-to-face relationship in the completed mount, as shown in Figs. 2 to 5. Within the backboard I2 is formed a supporting leg Ill having one end thereof attached to the backboard as at I6, so that the leg Ill may swing outwardly into obliquely disposed position for supporting the mount, The leg Il has provided therein a slot I8. which is in 2 part dened by a wall 20 having therein a notch 22.

In the panel I0 is formed an imperforate bracing tongue 24 which has one end 26 thereof resiliently attached to the panel I0, thus permitting the tongue to swing rearwardly away from the body of the panel.

The body of the tongue 24 is of such width that it is freely received in the slot I8 and the Widest portion thereof is such as to contact the slot defining edges 2i! and span the notch 22 in the slot i8. The free end of the tongue 24 has a reduced portion 23 which is adapted to enter the notch 22 in the supporting leg le and thereby hold the leg in extended or mount supporting position.

When the tongue 24 is extended through the slot I8, contact between the wide body of the tongue 24 and the slot dening walls 2li in the supporting leg I4 will generate a camming force against the face of the tongue 2li when the supporting leg I i is manually moved rearwardly into mount supporting position. When the supporting leg I4 has been moved to fully open position, the reduced end 28 of the tongue 24, due to the resilient mounting thereof, will snap into the notch 22.

More particularly, the invention is adapted for execution in inherently resilient material such as cardboard stock. The panel Il! and the backboard I2 may be fabricated from separate pieces of stock, although it is contemplated that a single piece of stock may be utilized and in such event, the panel and the backboard need only be folded into face-to-face relationship after the various cutting operations have been performed thereon.

In its broad sense, the invention contemplates prop and supporting tongue structures that are separately formed and subsequently attached to the mount panel and backboard, but in its most specic and presently most desirable form, the supporting structure, including the supporting leg I4 and the locking tongue or brace 24, are formed directly in their respective sections of stock. Thus, when the whole structure is folded flat, the supporting leg I4 and its locking brace or tongue 24 will assume a position in the plane of the stock respectively from which they are formed and thus add nothing to the bulk or thickness'of the final product.

According to the invention, the brace or locking tongue 2li in the panel iii is formed by severing the board along substantially parallel lines These lines define the widest portion of the body of the brace. The line 25 along which the tongue 24 is integrally hinged to the panel lil is preferably a devious line which adds a greater degree of resilience to the tongue. The eicacy of a devious hinge line for adding resilience to a hinge structure is taught in my pending application Serial No. 606,649 led July 23, 1945, now Patent 2,472,405,

The free end of the tongue terminates in the reduced portion 28, which is defined by a pair of incut shoulders 32 extending inwardly from the parallel si'de edges The supporting'leg 'Ill maybe formed in "the backboard by severing the board along a pair of divergent lines 34 which generally define the side edges of the leg. The lines riliaregjointed'by a transverse line 35, thereby providing a free end upon which the supporting leg I4 mayrest'avhen the leg has been swung into .mountvsupporting position. Herein the hinge line f6 may be made in a Variety of ways, as, for examplafscoring along the line I6 the material from which the backboard fis constructed. The general .conguration of the slot I8 is of little consequence, so longas the -slot is sufciently Wide and-deep Vto freelyac'cominodate the brace'or locking :tongue 24. through 5, the :locking tongue 24 must-,extend through the slot I8 for the intendedffunction of theisupport. One'of fthe slot'dening walls is preferably alongea -straight lineas indicatedzby the reference numeral 2B, Ythereby providing a bearing surface `for theinner face of the wide portion of the tongue-24 .during-theextension of the :supporting leginto operative position. Specically, the end wall2lv of the `slot I .P1-has. formed therein a-notch 22 which is sorelated to the reducedend 2810i the tongue 25 that .the reduced end may fall into the'notch22,and when in such position the'shoulders32von the free endof the tonguefZA about'the-inner face of the supporting leg I4-and .thereby hold the Vleg vin positive-engagement while itis-irifits open or lmount supportingp'osition.

.As hereinbeforepointed out, .the Vtongued is resiliently attached to -the panel lIlalong the line .26 andadvantage is `taken of ythe resilient j nature of the attachment to insure that the reduced end .ZSfthe tongue Zliwill move up -into the-notch `22 .and .remainthere while thesupporting structure. is in operativefposition.

By making use Vof the .devious score `1ine-26 as taught inrmy application .for .patent hereinbe'fore mentioned, .the .reduced end 28 of the `locking tongue 2d. snaps .up into the notch 22 with a distinctlyiaudible soundand 1with considerablefforce, it .being the tendency of the'tongue 2k3 to return toits .closed orretractedposition within its cutout .in the panel It under the iniluence o'f its natural resilience.

The meduced end 23 andthe shoulders '32 at .the freeend of the tongue '2li de'n'e'between .them a notch at .the ,inner end of each ofthe shoulders and this notch is Tof sufiicient depthto pass into the notch 22 oflthesupporting leg I d andthe outwardly diverging walls of the'tongue notches extend sufficiently yfar 'to Vengage'th'e'rear or .outer surface .of the supportingvleg I 4 at areas laterally spaced of thesl'ot`22. By this means the leg is limited in its outward'm'overnent as .well 'as positively retained against a oollapsing'movement in an inward direction.

Herein the structure has lbeen illustrated as comprising a supporting panel and a backboard. It follows, or" course, that display 'material may be supported directly on ythe panel. However, in many instances additional mount 1members '.will be carried by the supp'orting'panl I'-"andithe As it lmay be -seenby reference to Figs. 2.

.horizontal position.

utility of the invention is, therefore, not in any sense restricted to the use of a structure having only a display material supporting panel.

In using the display mount, the brace or locking tongue 24 is projected through the slot I8 in the supporting leg I4. It will be noted, therefore, that the inner face of the tongue 24 will bear with considerable force against the outer face of the supporting leg in the area above the Vslot EIB. In :order to -f'erect "the structure into 'mount"supportingipositionjit is merelynecessary to manually engage the supporting leg I4 and move it outwardly into an oblique position about itsihirrgefline I6. This movement will effectively cam (the 'locking tongue 24 toward a generally This camming action will continue -until the leg I2 has been moved into fully 'open position, 'at which time the notch 22 willregister with the reduced end 28 of the tongue 24 and the resilient nature of the tongue mounting .willbe effective .to move the .tongue upwardly relative Lto Athe Yslotin theleg li Ato ltherebylinterengage lthe slot "22 an'd the reduced end Vof 'the locking :tongue 24. inasmuch as specialprovision has been made 'to 'insure Athe resilience of the lockingtongue 242, theyreduced free endportion-Z ofthe .tongue willbe 'held in' its upward4 limit of movement within the notch 422 without any danger whateverwof a separati-on'be'tween'the.interengagedparts. Similarly, continued outward movement. of thelegl is inhibited Ibythe overhanging portion vof the lnot'ches formed between the 'shoulders'S'Z an'dvtlie reduced en`d128`at the free'en'd otth'e'locking tongueiz.

1 While "the inventionhas been described .in one specific and .presently Ipreferable f embodiment, it is contemplate'dthatchangesmay be madeitherein without departing 'fromthe spirit ofitheinvention.

zI claim:

fdisplaymount comprising asupporting'panel and a Vsubstantially'coeextensivev backboard'xed in face-to-face relation, a mount supporting leg formed "in said backb'cardfandhaving one end thereof attached to said ibat'zkboar'd "for" swinging movement, rtheperipheral 'edges of said'legbeing in frictional contact with`I the corresponding edges of 'tlre'f'backboardrecess in 'which the same is 'formedfa 'slot in saidleginclu'dinga slot'de'ning surface h'aving'a notch'therein, 'saidnotch positioned in the portion of said slot dening surface facingtheend 'ofsaid mount supporting leg attache'dlto'saidbackboardfanlimperforatebracing tongue attached itosaid panel in thea'rea under said leg, said tongue having a free endfdsposed toward-'the attachedend offsaid leg and having itsother end resiliently attached to-'saidpanel "for swinging movement A'along 'aline 'in'said panel that is located adjacent the bottom of said slot when said supporting leg 'and VVsaid lpanel .are in face-toeface relation lwhereby said tongue 'may be rotated'and extendedthrough'said slot and lie in a -plane substantially Aparallel to and 'adjacent `saidsupportingV leg when said Asupporting leg andsai'd'panel are in'face-toeface relation, the body of said tongue beinglofi'less'width than .said vslot'togprovide for'freemcvement 'of 'the tongue throughthe slot but suflicientlywideand so disposed as 'to contact with one face of saidrslot dening "surface and in :notch *spanning relation whenthe' same" is extended'through said slotyan'd a .reduced area "atthe :free end :of 'said tongue adaptedfto `enter said'notch, Vwhereby Contact b'etweenthebodyof'said tongueand the dening surface'of Said 'slot 'will cam said l'tongue lout- Wardly Awhen thetongue Ais"extended through the said parts are in registration.

CARROLL N. CROSS.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 896,231 Mulkey Aug. 18, 1908 962,903 Kristofek June 28, 1910 Number Number Name Date Blyth Dec. 6, 1927 Cross Apr. 17, 1945 Nichols Nov. 23, 1948 Nichols Oct. 24, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain of 1893 

